理解中国国际关系理论的两种构建途径

Two Approaches to Chinese IR Theory:A Historical Review and Evaluation

近十年来,国际关系理论中国学派的建设取得了许多重要成果,相继出现了"国际政治的关系理论""道义现实主义"以及"共生国际体系"三种理论观点。这三种观点虽然都是中国学派理论构建实践的产物,但从理论生成过程来看体现出两种不同的途径:其一为思想途径,即从中国思想传统出发,强调中国人对世界的独特本体论认识。其二为思维途径,即从中国思维传统出发,强调中国人认识世界的独特方式。这两种途径对于中国学派的建设都起到了积极作用,也生成了各自的理论观点。但这两种途径也都有进一步发展的空间。思想途径在中国思想元素与现实国际关系的逻辑相关性以及所生成理论知识的逻辑完整性方面有待进一步加强。而思维途径虽然弥补了思想途径在这两方面的缺陷,但在认识论方面可进一步挖掘。今后中国学派的构建实践需要将思维途径与思想途径相结合,克服在认识论和本体论两方面存在的不足,以期在理论构建上实现更大的突破。

Chinese scholars' efforts to construct a Chinese theory of International Relations( IR) have achieved considerable progress in the last ten years. Three distinct Chinese IR theoretical branches,namely the "Shanghai School",the "moral realism",and the "relational theory of world politics",have been proposed consecutively. These Chinese theoretical achievements are created by two approaches of knowledge making,each of which has its research agenda. The first approach starts from ancient Chinese thought and arrives at the unique Chinese understanding of the modern world. And the second approach starts from traditional Chinese logic of social practices and arrives at the Chinese way of making sense of the modern world. While the "moral realism"and the "Shanghai School" mainly follow the approach of Chinese thought,the "relational theory" is primarily a product of the approach of Chinese logic. These two approaches have contributed to the progress of Chinese IR theoretical studies in the past decade;however, both need further improvements. While the approach of Chinese thought needs to address the spatial-temporal correlation between ancient Chinese thought and the modern international reality, the approach of Chinese logic has to deal with the underlying epistemological issues. The future development of Chinese IR theory requires the combination of both the Chinese thought approach and the Chinese logic approach which can provide solid epistemological foundation of theory construction practices and tenable ontological position of international relations.